Disney and ESPN Media Networks and Time Warner Cable today announced an agreement to add ESPN Deportes, ESPN’s 24-hour Spanish-language sports network to its Digital Basic level of service to Time Warner Texas.  The network, currently available on Time Warner’s Spanish-language package in Texas, launched on digital basic on September 7, 2009, coinciding with ESPN’s 30th anniversary.

“Time Warner Cable in North Texas is excited to make ESPN Deportes available as part of our popular Digital Basic tier,” said Gary Underwood, Time Warner Cable’s vice president of communications for North Texas. “This change represents even more value and diversity for our digital customers here in North Texas.”

“This agreement represents another step forward in our efforts to make ESPN Deportes more broadly available to fans in major and emerging U.S. Hispanic markets across the country,” said David Preschlack, executive vice president, Affiliate Sales and Marketing, Disney and ESPN Media Networks.  “ESPN Deportes will be available to almost one million Time Warner Cable digital basic customers in Dallas, San Antonio, Harlingen, El Paso, and Austin, and the fact that it coincided with ESPN’s 30th Anniversary is a tangible example of how our mission to serve the fan has evolved over the years.”

With this deal, ESPN Deportes will now be available on digital basic in seven of the top 10 U.S. Hispanic markets (Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Dallas-Forth Worth, San Antonio, Phoenix and Harlingen.)

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, Texas’s Hispanic population is the second largest in the nation. Nearly 8.4 million Hispanics reside in Texas, 19% of all Hispanics in the United States.  According to Nielsen, key Texas markets have enjoyed steady increase in Hispanic Television Households from 2004-2009, led by Dallas (39%), Austin (32%), Harlingen (20%), San Antonio (14%), and El Paso (11%).

Launched January 2004, ESPN Deportes has become one of the fastest-growing cable networks on Spanish-language television.  The network was added to Nielsen’s Hispanic Sample May 2008. Year-to-date, ESPN Deportes has been the highest-rated and most-watched Spanish-language sports network.  The network offers more than 1,800 live and/or original hours of sports programming presented annually, including live coverage of Spain’s La Liga, 2010 South American World Cup Qualifiers, German Bundesliga, Dutch Premier League, Major League Soccer, winter baseball from the Dominican Republic and Mexico, as well as the Caribbean Baseball Series.   In addition, ESPN Deportes is the only Spanish-language network with national telecasts of NFL’s Monday Night Football, MLB’s Sunday Night Baseball, the US Open Tennis, Wimbledon, French Open, Australian Open, IRL Indy Car Series and NASCAR.

ESPN DEPORTES is ESPN’s multimedia, Spanish-language sports brand dedicated to providing the widest variety of sports to the U.S. Hispanic sports fan via television, radio, online, print, and wireless. Sports media assets include ESPN Deportes television which offers unparalleled Spanish-language sports programming, featuring more than 1,800 live and/or original hours of sports programming presented annually; ESPN Deportes Radio, the only around-the-clock national Spanish-language sports radio network in the U.S.; ESPNDeportes.com, the #1 Spanish-language sports Web site among Spanish-preferred fans in the U.S.; ESPN Deportes La Revista, the first general sports Spanish-language magazine in the U.S.; and ESPN Deportes Mobile, the brand’s  emerging business which offers Spanish-language sports content to fans via wireless devices.

About Disney and ESPN Media Networks:
Disney and ESPN Media Networks’ diverse portfolio contains the most compelling entertainment, sports and news content available to consumers today,  including ABC Family, ABC News Now, Disney Channel, ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN HD, ESPN2 HD, ESPN Classic, ESPN Deportes, ESPNEWS, ESPNEWS HD, ESPNU, ESPNU HD, SOAPnet and Disney XD. Delivering the most popular media brands with their passionate audiences, Disney and ESPN Media Networks brings content distributors exclusive opportunities across multiple platforms including broadband products such as ABC News Now, Disney Online’s Disney Connection and ESPN360.com, as well as video on demand services, including Disney Channel on Demand and ESPN on Demand.

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